Item 6. Selected Financial Data

	2018		2017		2016		2015		2014
(In thousands except for per-share amounts)
Operating Data (a)
Sales	$	2,254,668	$	2,066,982	$	1,808,994	$	1,688,666	$	1,704,021
Cost of sales		1,018,703		927,981		815,495		774,702		758,923
% of sales		45		45		45		46		45
Selling and administrative expenses		734,856		678,861		594,293		584,823		575,442
% of sales		33		33		33		35		34
Severance and restructuring costs		6,552		2,438		10,775		11,411		2,551
Operating profit		494,557		457,702		388,431		317,730		367,105
% of sales		22		22		21		19		22
Net income		377,375		295,802		271,843		211,111		246,773
% of sales		17		14		15		13		14
Financial Data (a) (e)
Working capital	$	533,822	$	240,626	$	414,032	$	420,815	$	301,815
Net property, plant and equipment and other non-current assets		2,536,910		2,526,167		1,675,008		1,646,723		1,606,274
Total capital (b)		2,669,154		2,648,094		1,767,369		1,724,211		1,661,110
Total assets		3,421,012		3,414,539		2,420,583		2,358,314		2,278,957
Long-term liabilities		1,619,991		1,611,300		1,237,437		1,407,522		1,003,292
Shareholders’ equity		1,450,741		1,155,493		851,603		660,016		904,797
Return on average total capital — % (c)		15		14		16		13		17
Return on average shareholders’ equity — % (d)		28		30		37		26		27
Per-Share Data (a)
Average number of common shares		57,970		57,533		57,060		60,652		63,656
Average number of common shares and common share equivalents		58,931		58,204		57,530		61,151		64,281
Basic earnings per share	$	6.51	$	5.14	$	4.76	$	3.48	$	3.88
Diluted earnings per share		6.40		5.08		4.73		3.45		3.84
Dividends per common share		1.25		1.11		0.99		0.90		0.76
Book value per common share		25.00		20.02		14.86		11.51		14.49

(a)	See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

(b)	Notes payable, plus current portion of long-term debt, plus long-term debt, minus cash and marketable securities, plus shareholders’ equity.

(c)	Net income plus after-tax interest expense on borrowings as a percentage of the average of quarterly borrowings (net of cash) plus shareholders’ equity over the last five quarterly accounting periods.

(d)	Net income as a percentage of average quarterly shareholders’ equity over the last five quarterly accounting periods.

(e)	Certain amounts for the years 2014 through 2016 have been adjusted to reflect the retrospective application of our reclassification of debt issuance costs upon the adoption of a new accounting standard in 2017.

Nordson Corporation 20